OCN Materials

 Open College Network Education Packs for Prisons

In collaboration with prison educator Jose Aguiar, the Anne Frank Trust have created two brand new OCN progression qualification courses, espeically for offender learners. The courses use the power of Anne Frank’s diary and story to teach about mutual respect and appreciating each other’s differences, to help create a better society for everyone - inside prison and outside.

Understanding Diversity within Society has been produced to be delivered alongside, or before a visit from, the Anne Frank Prison project. It allows teachers to work with students to explore the complexity of living within a diverse society. The course addresses the positive aspects of diversity in society but also covers problems such as discrimination and persecution.

Understanding Diversity within Society was piloted at Feltham YOI to acclaim from learners and teachers alike. This course is currently offered as part of the package offered to a prison when booking the project for a week or two week placement.

The second course, Understanding Prejudice and Discrimination, follows on from the contemporary panels added to the traditional Anne Frank: A History For Today exhibition, in 2008. It explores issues of modern day prejudice, genocide, human rights abuses and civil rights movements. This course moves the learner on to beyond the story of Anne Frank and into today's society, concentrating on hate crime in the UK for part of the course, for example.

The OCN courses are offered at four differentiated levels, in order to address different learning needs in the classroom, and to reach students with varying literacy levels. The courses have been designed to enable students to participate actively in sessions and to contribute from their own experiences.

There is also an ESOL introductory course. As ESOL learners make progress with their English language skills, they learn about diversity issues in the UK. The course has been translated into six different languages, French; Italian; Portuguese; Polish; Romanian and Spanish.

The aim of the courses is to promote positive attitudes, particularly towards ethnicity, religion and culture. Through education and learning about the tragedies of the past we aim to empower inmates to reject all forms of bigotry, prejudice and intolerance in their daily lives.

If you would like to know more, including prices, please download the Anne Frank Trust's OCN leaflet here.